Bibliographical information:

Cannon, Janell. Stellaluna.  New York: Scholastic, 1993.

Brief summary:

Stellaluna is a young fruit bat. While she's out flying with her mother, they are attacked by an owl. Stelllaluna falls into a tree, where she finds a nest of birds. She is befriended by the young birds and adopted by their mother, on the condition that she act like a bird. But one day when she's out flying, she meets another bat, who reminds her of bat ways and reunites her with her moher. She later exchanges visits with her bird friends, leading them to ponder how they can "be so different and feel so much alike," and how they can "feel so different and be so much alike." They agree that this is a mystery, but that they're nonetheless friends.

The book includes two pages of information about bats, including some elliptical comments about vampire bats that address the questions of kids who already know that vampire bats exist, but don't necessarily raise questions for kids who've never heard of them.

Comments:

My five-year-old's friend recommended this book, and my daughter enjoyed it quite a lot. The lessons of the story are fairly heavy-handed, but they're also worked out through the unfamiliar behaviors of bats and the surprising events of the story.

Grade/Age level:

Ages 3-6

Cautions:

The owl attack is quite scary, and for a while Stellaluna believes that her mother has been killed (though this is not directly discussed). Though she turns out to have survived, the attack and her disappearance might frighten some children.

If you like this book, you might also like . . .

--Lisa Gordis

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